Maccabi Haifa demolished ten-men Kiryat Shemona 4-0 as newcomer Pedro Brazao starred with a goal and assist in his debut to help the Greens to the win. After an even opening thirty minutes that saw each side with chances, Ofir Benbenishti was issued a red card reducing the northerners to ten men which allowed the floodgates to open up for Barak Bachar’s squad.

Right before the break, Brazao handed the ball off to Eitan Azulay who blasted it behind a Daniel Tannenbaum for a 1-0 lead. Brazao then waltzed into the box off the right side and sent a left footed stunner into the top corner of the goal for a 2-0 advantage while Noam Sztejfman and Tsunami added a goal a piece to take the win.

Haifa Head Coach Barak Bachar spoke about the victory, “It’s important to win and gain confidence. There is room for improvement and we need to restore the fans’ trust in the team. That will happen through wins and good performances. It’s difficult to define this game, we won 4-0 and there are still things to improve. It’s our second consecutive win and on Saturday we want to win again and head into the international break on a positive note.”

Kiryat Shemona bench boss Shai Barda shared his thoughts on the loss, “You can analyze the game before the red card and after the red card. Up until the 30th minute, we did create chances and I don’t think Maccabi Haifa had any real advantage. After the red card, we had some incredible opportunities that we should have scored, but missed. However, the way we fell apart at the end is unacceptable to me.”

Hapoel Haifa dropped Bnei Sakhnin 3-1 as three different goal scorers found the back of the goal in the first half to give the Carmel Reds the win and the 3-points. Yaad Gonen opened the scoring early on off an Arial Mendy cross while Cheikh Keita doubled the advantage in the 23rd minute. Basil Khoury pulled a goal back minutes later but Liran Rotman made it 3-1 by the 30th minute as the final hour didn’t see much action from either side as Haim Silvas’s team took the win.

“We’ll have to look closely at the gaps between our performances in the two halves,” Silvas said. “This isn’t the first time it has happened. The game developed into something a little crazy, but every time we broke their press, we created chances and caught them unprepared defensively.”

Yossi Abukasis summed up his team’s poor first half, “I absolutely did not expect such a start, it was very bad. It was a horror show from us defensively, we made mistakes and couldn’t get back into the game even after we pulled one goal back. It really frustrates me that we weren’t focused enough in our defensive play.”

Hapoel Ramat Gan stunned Maccabi Netanya 2-0 as Marius Noubissi and Luan Campos scored inside of the box and during the first half to chalk up the victory.

Ramat Gan Head Coach Masai Dego talked about the club’s first win, “It’s like giving birth. We lost three games in a row against strong teams, but personally, last week’s defeat was very difficult for me. I know how to lose, but not like the way we fell apart at Bloomfield. We limited Netanya to fewer chances than they had created in their previous games. They’re a good team, but I focused on us throughout the week. I’m very proud of the players.”

Roni Levy shared his feelings after the difficult loss, “A very disappointing game and a very painful defeat. We started very well, but in their first attacks we conceded far too easily. At this level, it’s not acceptable to concede goals that easily. We spent the whole game chasing them. We created enough chances, but we didn’t take them.”